


By Any Other Name

by Peredur



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternate Universe - Teachers, Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug, Canon Disabled Character, Disabled Characters, Everyone Needs A Hug, Jewish Bucky Barnes, Jewish Sam Wilson, Jewish Steve Rogers, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, Sam Wilson is a good partner, Stucky Bingo 2020, Trans Bucky Barnes, established relationships - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-15
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:01:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 4,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27030841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Peredur/pseuds/Peredur
Summary: To pay for college, Bucky joined the Army. Steve became a model and one toy ad for a Captain America action figure catapults him into acting... On Sesame Street. A few TV deals later and Steve's doing what he always wanted to do - teaching little kids.Sam is another teacher and excited about bringing his long distance boyfriends Steve and Bucky into his life in Brooklyn. Recess with Steve, synagogue with Bucky and food-filled Shabbat dinners with them both have filled his dreams for months.Bucky knows that him being trans lost Steve his job. Between the transness, the missing arm and the PTSD, he's not got a job or gone to college yet. And he has one big problem - he doesn't exactly have a name...
Relationships: Clint Barton/Natasha Romanov, James "Bucky" Barnes/Sam Wilson, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers/Sam Wilson, More to be added later - Relationship, Steve Rogers/Sam Wilson
Comments: 7
Kudos: 23
Collections: Stucky Bingo 2020





	1. Steve

**Author's Note:**

> Title: By Any Other Name  
> Creator(s): Peredur  
> Card number: 049  
> Link: archiveofourown.org/works/27030841  
> Square filled: C4 Teacher AU  
> Rating: Teen and Up  
> Archive warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply, some transphobia, homophobia and disablism, individual chapters containing these will be marked  
> Major tags: Teaching, All Caps Triad, Trans Bucky Barnes, Name Feels  
> Summary: Steve, Bucky and Sam are boyfriends, Bucky needs a real sounding first name, Steve is going to spend all term explaining he's not Captain America, Sam is going to make sure his boyfriends are warm and fed  
> Word count: ?

Steve  
Steve sits gripping the steering wheel for a few seconds, taking a deep breath in and a long breath out before releasing his grip. Parked outside his new workplace, he tries to get his head around the events that have led him here. It's okay, Steve, he thinks to himself. It's just a new job.  
A new job, a new city, new everything.  
He really hadn't meant to be "let go" from his last job and he couldn't really risk this one. He shouldn't think about that now though, he's going to make himself late if he has an anxiety attack now. He mentally schedules his anxiety attack for after work. 

He spots Sam's car pulling into the car park and smiles. It'll be good to work with Sam. They're not working directly together but working in the same place. And thank the stars that this school already know that he and Sam are dating. 

Steve lives with his boyfriend Bucky and works with his boyfriend Sam and this school already knows that. Honestly, he's going to have more problems with the "Captain America" thing than the "Yes, I'm an elementary school teacher and yes I am gay and yes I have two boyfriends" thing. 

When Steve and Bucky were young, they were poor as dirt and needed back up planning to afford a good education. Bucky had joined the Army. Steve had… Well it'd started with modelling. 

And then he got selected as a model for a toy ad - for Captain America toys. And his life had tumbled completely out of his control.  
Steve spent most of his twenties making appearances and doing TV adverts as Captain America. Which turned into spots on TV shows. Which turned into regular spots on Sesame Street and then his own show on PBS. Two shows actually - Learning With Captain America came first and Bedtime Story With Captain America followed the year after. Now, he gets a bit of cash from the re-runs and he paid his way through college and teacher training with the Cap money.  
So now he's a teacher like he's always wanted but every single new school year starts with a whole term of explaining that, no, he's not actually Captain America. 

Steve gets out of his car and greets Sam. They hug and Sam lightly kisses Steve's face. 

"Fancy seeing you here," Steve says, trying to sound like someone who is calm and happy. 

"Steve, you might want a better line than that if you want me to come home with you after school," Sam teases, "I'm hoping you'll ask me what a nice guy like me is doing in a school like this." 

"I dunno Sam," Steve replies, "But if you're feeling out of place in such a classy establishment…"

"Really, Steve?" Sam asks, "Are you okay, man? You're usually able to joke without resorting to puns." 

"Just a little nervous, Sam." 

"You got this Steve. You're a great teacher. Principal Carter has been watching your career with interest since she saw you at that teaching conference on making schools better for disabled kids like six years ago." 

"I'll see you at recess then, Mr Wilson," Steve says. 

"I look forward to it, Mr Rogers," Sam replies.


	2. Bucky

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content Note:  
> This one has some transphobia and ableism from a doctor

Bucky 

"Mr Barnes," the gender doctor says to a fidgeting Bucky sitting across the desk in the doctor's office, "I see you haven't yet changed your name to a masculine name. Is there a reason for that?" He steeples his fingers and looks at Bucky expectantly. 

"Haven't found one that really fits me yet," he replies. It's not exactly true - "Bucky" fits him perfectly, it's just not a real name. "I don't want to get stuck with the wrong name again." He sighs heavily and stares absently at the potted plant on the windowsill behind the doctor. He wonders if it's real. 

"Could it be," the doctor says slowly, "That you're struggling to choose a male name because you're not sure you want to transition to male?" 

Bucky sits up straighter. "No. I'm sure of very few things but I know I'm a man. I've been pretty loud about it - you’ve seen my notes." 

"Ah, yes," the doctor says, turning over a couple of sheets of paper, "The notes from the Army make it very clear that you've openly considered yourself a man since your injury… And not before."

Bucky answers the doctor's calm gaze with a glare. "No point in tryin' to keep it secret when I'm already getting honourable discharge for losing an arm." 

"Hmm. Or maybe you're responding to the trauma of your injury by trying to become someone else? Do you understand that your disfigurement doesn't prevent you from living a perfectly happy life as a woman? You say that you're attracted to men so I'm really struggling to see why you're doing this to yourself…"

Bucky stands abruptly, grabs his things and leaves. "This isn't going to work," he says over his shoulder on the way out the door. 

He walks for a couple blocks, not aware of his surroundings. He spots a diner and sits in the back, drinks his coffee black and boiling to try to keep himself from crying. He wants to call Steve or Sam. But his boyfriends are at work and this isn't an emergency. He feels so alone. Fuck it, he's gonna order waffles. Lots of waffles.


	3. Steve

Steve 

By recess, Steve has been called every combination of "Mr", "Captain", "America" and "Rogers" possible, been asked where Bucky the Bear is seventeen times and explained that, no, he's not actually a superhero and also no he doesn't know Elmo or Big Bird to both his whole class and six individual children. He can't blame them for struggling with the difference between TV and reality because, well, they are only six years old and the shows he filmed are still showing reruns. But he knows from experience that the first few weeks will be a lot more of the same conversation. 

"Sam," he moans, "I tried to explain that superheroes aren't real and one of the kids told me "Mr Wilson is a superhero, he can FLY!" and then the bell went and now I have to work out how to explain paragliding to six year olds and I blame you."

Sam just laughs and claps Steve on the shoulder. "Fair enough babe, you can blame me. Let me go grab you the framed photos of me paragliding I keep on my desk. Pro tip - get them talking about real everyday heroes like doctors and firefighters. They'll still find them about as fantastical as any superhero."

"Thanks Sam," Steve says and sips his coffee, "That's a good idea if they even still remember. They're pretty wired today - the ones who aren't trying to hide are anyway."

Sam nips off to his classroom and Steve glances round the staffroom. His kids aren't the only ones with new school jitters and Steve is too tall to try to hide behind the coat racks and too old to jump and run around to bleed off the nervous energy. He settles for tapping his foot on the floor and clinging tightly to his mug of coffee. 

Two women - both redheads - approach him. He recognises the taller woman as Principal Carter. She's wearing a tailored dark blue suit and skirt and a necklace of bright red round beads - maybe coral? - that exactly match her equally bright lipstick and nail polish. 

"Steve," she says warmly, sounding as if she'd known him for decades, "So glad you were able to move to New York so quickly. I hope you and your fiancé are settling in well?" 

"Glad to be here, Principal Carter," Steve says politely. He's still getting used to her clipped British accent. 

"Please do call me Peggy," she says, "At least when we're out of child eavesdropping range." She smiles and turns to the shorter woman to her left. 

"Steve, please meet Natasha Romanov. Natasha is our gym teacher. Natasha, this is Steve Rogers. He's the kindergarten teacher I finally managed to poach from that Christian school in LA.”

Natasha’s eyes widen. “He was working at a Christian school? I thought you told me he was Sam’s boyfriend, the nice Jewish boy and former model?”

“Um, yeah,” Steve says, “Yes to all of that. The Alexander Pierce Academy turned out to not be that great of a fit.” 

He tries not to remember that argument, Alexander Pierce himself decided that Steve’s contract was terminated. Apparently “You shall not lie” didn’t apply to answering questions from six year olds about why Bucky joined the Army (for money), what happened to his arm (he got hurt very bad so the doctors had to take his arm off to save him) or why does Bucky live with him (I love him, he’s my family). A few parents had written some good things about Steve on social media and then his health insurance had rejected paying for Bucky’s hormones and it all sort of exploded into a shouting match between Steve and Mr Pierce and suddenly Steve no longer had a job.

“I’m hoping you’ll fit in much better here,” Peggy says. “Natasha, could you get Steve acquainted with the staff facilities?”

“Certainly,” says Natasha brightly, “Steve, let me show you the multifaith prayer room.” She leads him out of the staff room and looks at him over her shoulder. “I think you’ve met my husband Clint? He’s the ASL interpreter in your classroom"


	4. Bucky

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm posting as I write so there's no particular posting schedule. Next chapter is Sam-focused!

Bucky

Bucky looks down at what he’s written in scruffy handwriting on his slightly syrup-sticky notebook:

The JBB Guide To Picking Your Own Damn Name

  1. DON’T get really, really attached to a nickname with no longer name it belongs to
  2. DON’T get really attached to your initials
  3. For fuck’s sake, DO NOT manage to do both of those and the initials you want don’t match your dumb nickname
  4. ????



“Well fuck,” he says out loud.

Steve calls him Bucky or Buck. Sam usually calls him JB or JBB. None of those is a real enough name for his official ID. Fuck.


	5. Sam

Sam

**JB**

At the lgbtq Center. Can you pick me up after work Sammy? 

**Me**

Sure JB. I'll let Steve know. 

**Me**

You okay? 

**JB**

Not really. The doc they recommended was a jerk. Said I only want to be a guy cos I think I'm ugly with one arm 

**JB**

I left when he said that. 

Messed with my head a bit though 

**Me**

I'm proud of you for walking out on that dick 

I'll come get you as soon as I can baby boy xxx

Sam slips his phone back into his jacket pocket. He's got a few free minutes while his class is learning gym with Coach Romanov. He checks his watch, still time for a quick coffee before he needs to be teaching again. 

He hates the fact that people think they get a say in whether or not his boyfriend JB is a man. Sam is as gay as they come and he's never had a problem seeing JB as a man - in fact he had a very immediate and embarrassing reaction to first meeting Steve's childhood friend. He kinda temporarily lost the ability to talk in full sentences and might have maybe tripped over his own feet a little. He wanted JB the moment he saw the dude. And he'd expected that to be it but when he went to shul the next night, he saw JB dressed smart and wearing a yarmulke and.. Yeah. 

Not that Sam finding JB extremely attractive is any kind of seal of approval of JB's manhood, Sam doesn't think that just.. Damn. He's seen all of JB and he can't understand why anyone would ever look at him and see anything but a man. 

Three years since they met, Sam is still amazed at his good fortune in getting both his friend Steve from teacher training and also Steve's extremely handsome childhood bestie to be with  **him.** He knew Steve and JB were a couple back when they hadn't figured it out themselves and he'd nobly tried (and failed!) to put aside his own feelings for each of them and instead try to get them together. And… JB had been the one brave enough to say "I want you both". 

JB was so damn fearless… Except for being misgendered by doctors. He'd yell back at homophobes and Nazis, put himself between Sam and racists and wore t shirts saying things like "They wanted an arm and a leg but I managed to haggle". 

But someone with the power to decide whether to medically or legally treat him as man? He was terrified of them. Sam understands that fear more than he wants to but damn if it doesn’t make him wish either to punch people for looking funny at JB or to swaddle his boyfriend in blankets and keep him away from the big, bad world. Of course, JB wouldn’t accept either of those - he has a stubborn streak to rival Steve’s. 

Sam is jostled out of his thoughts by an alarm on his phone - time to get back to the classroom before his pupils come back from gym. He gets his copy of “A Wizard of Earthsea” down from the class bookshelf and prepares to read aloud the next chapter for his class. It’s a surprisingly effective way to get 10 years olds to calm down after the highs of gym class. He sends a quick text to Steve updating him about JB’s plans and suggesting comfort food might be required tonight. 

“Welcome back class! Ready to hear the further adventures of Ged?”


	6. Bucky

**Bucky**

His phone has an app for finding the right direction for prayer. He's feeling antsy and it's around the right time for afternoon prayer.

A little early maybe, he'd usually wait for Sammy or Stevie to join him or they'd actually go to a minyan but they've yet to find a new rhythm in their new home and he needs to talk to G-d.

He stands in a corner of the unmarked prayer room at the lgbtq center and takes out his prayer book and starts to read aloud the afternoon prayers, concentrating on being present to the words he's saying and letting his feelings out.

Thank you G-d for making my body, he finds himself thinking, but I am so very sick of other people's misreadings of it. Thanks anyway. 

When he's reached the end of the afternoon selection, he stands quietly for a while, his eyes shut tight and his breath slow and deliberate. He lets himself come back to the world and texts Sam to ask for a lift home. He doesn't want to deal with buses tonight. 

There's a little café and a library in the centre so he goes there for some vegan cake, ice tea and a book for the next hour or so until Sam can come get him. 

**Stevie-boy**

Hey Bucky 

You want matzo ball soup for dinner? I can use the chicken stock you made on Sunday 

**Me**

Yeah 

Throw in the celery, lots of garlic and maybe a carrot. 

**Stevie-boy**

Will do Buck xxx

**Me**

And don't use a metal spoon in my good pans this time! 

You scratch up another one and I'll have to move in with Sam instead


	7. Sam

Sam 

JB is in the café at the centre - if he'd been having a good day he would have been talking to the staff about the food, making recipe suggestions and notes on what he might want to make at home.

But it's not a good day so Sam finds his boyfriend squinting quizzically at a book that claims to be Queer poetry but is possibly too avant-garde for either of them. 

"What's a nice boy like you doin' in a place like this?" Sam says, remembering his joke with Steve that morning. 

"Tryin' to work out what language this book thinks it's in," Bucky replies. "It's not even the sex or gender words I'm struggling with! I get those but…" He sighs and puts the book back on the shelf. "Sammy, can you help me with my jacket? I'm tired." 

"Sure thing gorgeous," Sam says and he grabs the back of JB's navy college jacket as JB slips the sleeve over his arm. Sam pulls the jacket into place on each shoulder in turn then pulls the fleece lined adapted mini-sleeve carefully over JB's nubby arm stump - Steve's excellent with a sewing machine and working through adapting JB's entire wardrobe. He fastens up the discrete velcro straps to hold it closed and he leans forward to kiss JB. "Love you," Sam whispers to him. 

A quick chat later and Sam is holding JB's hand and gently steering him toward the the reception desk. A short person with dark curls sits behind the desk, flitting fidgetily between a phone, a laptop, some papers and looking up to check if anyone needed anything. A name tag clipped to their casual off-white shirt reads "Brucie, Welcomer, They/Them". 

"Hi, erm, we have some feedback about some of the information we got from the website?" Sam says to start the conversation, "One of the gender pages needs some… Editing." He squeezes JB's hand in his. 

Brucie looks up owlishly from what Sam realizes is not work for the Center but some very complex looking math and/or science work. He guesses Brucie must be a student at the nearby University. "Right," says Brucie, "What needs changing?" 

"Dr Peirce is an ableist bastard," says JB, though he looks at his shoes instead of at Brucie or Sam while he says it, "Straight up told me I only think I'm trans cos I lost an arm."

"Wow," says Brucie, carding their curls back from their forehead with one hand while writing a sticky note saying "Call Pepper - serious issue with Dr P, urgent" and then another "Get Tonio to take Dr P's deets off website pending investigation". They sigh and say, "I'm truly sorry that happened to you and I assure you the Center will look into this and make changes. Could I take some contact details from you? Ms Potts will want to apologise to you directly." 

They leave details - once JB is assured that his details aren't going any further. He can't risk the possibility of getting a rep as a "noncompliant patient". Brucie also mentions a regular in person group for trans people, another for lgbtq disabled people and an online forum that might have up to date information about local gender therapists and trans-friendly endocrinologists. 

In Sam's car on the way back to Steve and JB's new place, they talk about their days. At a red light, JB shows Sam his name choosing guide. 

"Y'know," Sam says carefully, biting his lower lip and looking at the traffic lights intently, "I could call you something else. Or Steve could. We can change if you want us to." 

"That's the thing Sammy!" JB huffs, "I like bein' called JB and Bucky. I don't wanna have just the one name from botha you or the same name from everybody. But apparently that's insufficiently… _manly_ or something." 


	8. Bucky

Bucky 

Chatting with Sam helps. He doesn't let himself get distracted by how arbitrary and unjust the gender dysphoria systems can be (Steve gets ranty and tries to fix systematic problems with passionate ranting, blogging and / or placard-waving and it's kind of adorable but doesn't help Bucky navigate the systems that currently exist). Sam just gets that sometimes you have to deal with unspoken rules and figure out which you're safe to break, which to bend and which you will break despite knowing the likely consequences. He doesn't like it either but he gets it. 

Sam added some more lines to the Guide To Picking Your Own Damn Name:

4\. Remember that you have a culture, a history and family. There's a lot of inspiration there. ("JB, you're Jewish, we got a lot of culture and history to work with here.")

5\. Make sure it's something you're cool with hearing a lot and answering to. 

6\. Look at popular names from where and when you were born 

He writes these in his notebook then looks up popular American boys names and the 1980s. 

After writing out all the J names and removing Hispanic names like Jesus, Juan and Javier and African American names like Jamal, he's left with a list to start from. He crosses out a few names he doesn't like or thinks might come across as not 110% masculine. That leaves him with this:

Joshua

James

John 

Joseph 

Jason 

~~Justin~~

Jonathan 

~~Jeremy~~

~~Jeffrey~~

Jacob 

~~Jesse~~

~~Jared~~

Jordan 

Joel 

~~Jeremiah~~

Johnny 

Jimmy 

~~Jamie~~

Joe 

Jack 

Jay 

"It's not much but it's something of a start," he thinks as they pull up to the house, "Yeah, it's a start."


	9. Steve

Steve is not the best cook out of the three of them. He's not a bad cook just Bucky has spent years throwing himself into cooking as a hobby-slash-coping-mechanism and Sam's Dad is a Rabbi and thus Sam grew up helping make multiple course meals for Shabbat with guests and Sundays batch-cooking freezer meals for his Dad to bus out to people having a hard time…

And Steve just doesn't have as much experience or as much enthusiasm as his partners. He does still cook. He and Bucky have a meal planner that loosely correlates to reality and has Steve making dinner three times a week. He can sort of see how cooking could be fun but… It just isn't his thing. 

Making matzo ball soup, he can do that. It takes a while but there's a fair bit of down time built in where all that needs to be done is watch the pot doesn't boil over. He writes observations and plans and stirs the broth between each kid's notes. He paces around the kitchen island, flitting between the stovetop and the stacked papers.

Bucky having a bad day worries him and he knows his usual response to difficulties won't necessarily help. He can't argue, agitate, debate, discuss or demonstrate, protest or persuade the world into becoming trans inclusive. He tries to anyway… And that got him fired, narrowly missed getting Bucky outed in the newspapers and got them running here… Where Bucky can't see the gender doc he was doing well with. If the latest one Buck's tried is bad then Steve feels responsible. And he knows Bucky doesn't see it like that. 

What Steve can do, he thinks to himself, is follow the recipe to make the Barnes' family matzo ball soup. He can't fix the world and he can't protect Bucky from the transphobia and ableism within it. But he can make their home as safe and comfortable as possible - so soup, snacks, coffee. 

A light summer shower glitters the window as Steve cooks. He makes the matzo balls following the recipe on the box - he's aware of other ways of making them but Bucky insists that G-d intended for matzo balls to be made this way and it's tradition. 

Steve's just added the matzo balls to the pot when he sees Sam's car pulling up the drive. He washes the matzo mix from his hands and sets the coffee maker going. He condenses his papers into a couple of folders and packs them away, grabs three clean mugs from the drainer and sets them next to a plate on the kitchen island. He gets down an airtight container and pulls out the rest of the orange cake Bucky had made the day before, putting it on the plate with a knife. He quickly tries to "arrange" the flowers he'd bought on his way home and fails to make any discernible difference. He hears the key in lock and the front door opening. 

"I'm in the kitchen!" he calls, "Coffee's brewing!" 

They drink coffee and eat cake standing in the kitchen and talk about their days. Sam's new pupils are a… spirited bunch and Steve's are hilarious in their confusion about Steve's identity. 

"One of the parents tried to get my autograph!" Steve complained, "Apparently college kids really liked the Captain America shows and now they're old enough to have kids in my class. I feel so old." 

"Did you do it though?" Bucky asked, "An autograph?" 

"Ha, no. I told him where to buy the official ones if he needed one or to just wait for his kid's report card." 

Over dinner, Bucky's name problem comes up. Steve has suggested he could legally be Bucky or Buck before - "I am not going to name myself Buck and then marry a Rogers, Steve" - and he knows it's a nonstarter. Instead, he suggests, "What if you go with J B? If not the letters then Jay and Bee are names." 

Bucky writes J B Barnes and Jay Bee Barnes in his notebook but he looks doubtful. At least he's enjoying the food, Steve thinks as Bucky changes topic to the remaining unpacking and decorating for the new place. 

"Sammy, you sure have strong opinions on paint colours for someone who doesn't even live here!" Bucky laughs. 

"Hey," Sam says, "I may not live here but don't think I don't hear you calling the spare room Sammy's room, JB."

They'd managed to find a place with three bedrooms big enough for full beds and one room that would take a twin bed when (hopefully, eventually) they have a kid. Steve is pretty determined to make this place work - living near Sam, near Sam's dad's synagogue, back in the part of the world they grew up in… It's ideal and he's determined not to mess it up. 

"Sammy, sweetie," Bucky drawls, "We all know you don't need a room, you just climb into my bed with me and Steve." 

"True," says Sam equitably, "Though that was when there was only one bed available in your old place. Having several beds available might change my behaviour." 

"You're not gonna climb into bed with me?" Bucky asks in mock surprise, his hand dramatically clutching at nonexistent pearls. 

"Not tonight babe," Sam replies, "It's a school night - I need to actually sleep." 

Bucky grins wickedly and says, "I'd say I could let you sleep but.. I shouldn't lie."

"You let **me** sleep!" Steve interjects, "Are you implying I'm not as hot as Sam?" 

"I live with you Steven," Bucky says, "I get to see you naked every day. And I really love it. But I have to work harder to get Sam here undressed."

Sam is blushing and smiling through the familiar teasing. None of them doubts that both of the others find them intensely attractive. The number of beds in the house are a testament to how much time they each intend to spend in beds with each other.

“Speaking of me not actually living here no matter how many items of my clothing JB put in the closet of the _Spare Room_ …” Sam says, “I really should head home to sleep. See you tomorrow morning at school, Steve. JB, keep Steve outta trouble till the morning for me?”

Sam drowns out Steve’s half-hearted objection by kissing him while Bucky rolls his eyes and mutters, “I can try Sammy, I can try.”

Bucky walks Sam to the front door and kisses him goodbye. “Thanks,” he says quietly, “For earlier. It helped.”

Steve is supposed to be clearing the dinner table. Instead, he has started writing his own thoughts about names and Bucky.

** The Steve Rogers Guide to Re-Naming Bucky **

  1. Bucky is a perfectly good and unambiguously masculine name
  2. Anyone making Bucky feel like he can’t just use the name Bucky because it’s not gendered enough or it’s not grown up enough can fuck off
  3. Unless that person is Bucky. Bucky gets to have complicated feelings even when Steve doesn’t understand them
  4. Buck is also a pretty good male name. But there’s that other trans man called Buck who is terrible and also apparently Bucky’s considering taking my surname?
  5. Side note: Maybe I can convince him to let me take his surname instead?
  6. JB, Jay B, Jay Bee or even Jaybie would be perfectly good names if Bucky were a kid in my class.
  7. After finding two Mavericks and two Wildes on your class list, finding out those names are actually quite popular and belatedly working out that Maverick N uses she/her pronouns and you’ve been getting it wrong all day… your ideas about names get very flexible, very quickly.
  8. If Bucky decided to name himself Jackfruit Bicyclist Barnes, or any random noun or adjective, Steve will FIGHT anyone who has anything to say about it.
  9. Are there other names that begin with “Buck”?



“Huh,” Steve says aloud to the empty kitchen, “Bucky’s taking a while seeing Sam off.” He guesses Bucky missed Sam - long distance relationships weren’t easy for him. Bucky often found them surreal, the knowing that someone far off loved him was harder for him to focus on than the multi-sensory realness of dating/loving/living in person. Steve doesn’t feel that way but he gets it and he expects Bucky will be snuggling up to Sam every chance he gets for the first few weeks.

Steve thinks about this as he tidies and when a blushing Bucky comes back into the room Steve pulls him into a close hug. He holds him and strokes his hair out of his face. 

“I love you so much,” Steve says. He kisses Buck's face, neck, lips. "I'm not sure I deserve to be this fortunate but I'm so glad I get to be yours, Bucky."


End file.
